Superstitions from around the
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SUPERSTITION: COUNTING CROWS / SALUTING A MAGPIE

Description: 'One for sorrow,Two for mirth,Three for a wedding,And four for death.'

Origin: United States and England

The American version of this rhyme is about crows, but in England where it originates it is about magpies, a similar bird. Crows have been seen as omens of death or misfortune since ancient times, thanks to their habit of eating dead bodies on battlefields or gallows. In Russia witches were said to be able to take shape of a crow.